A newly published seniority list of Sindh’s 16th year police inspectors has revealed serious irregularities in the recruitment process, including the appointment of officers below the legal minimum age of 18 years.
The conclusions have thrown a new doubt about the transparency of hiring within the Sindh police, some police officers were enthroned at ages as young as 16 years old.
Under the rules of “civil servants (appointment, promotion and transfer) of Pakistan, 1973”, the minimum age for the public service is 18 years.
However, according to the list published by the Inspector General of the Sindh Ghulam Nabi Memon, several agents in service were recruited long before meeting this legal age.
An officer, Mehboob Ali Mithani, would have been hired at 16, 10 months and 11 days. Another, Babar Ali Sheikh, joined only 16 years and 3 months. Other names, including Imtiaz Ali Thebo, Zahor Ahmed Lashari and Shah Jehan Lashari, also appeared in the list with ages under the age of 17 when hiring.
Read: DSP seniority list lifts eyebrows
Meanwhile, the same department recently declared three unacceptable candidates for recruitment only to exceed the higher age limit of a few days or months.
Among them, Shehzad Khan missed the admissibility of five days, Farhan Ali Ahmed of three months and 12 days, and Noor Muhammad of one month.
The inconsistency triggered criticism on a clear double standard in the application of age regulations. While some have been disqualified for a minor surplus, others with significant age gaps were recruited and promoted later in the upper ranks.
The list also includes officers who barely reached the age threshold, such as Mumtaz Rahoo (18, 2 days) and Qamaruzzaman (18 years, 6 days). Observers say that if previous recruitments are correctly examined, the list of violations would include hundreds rather than dozens of names.
Questions have also been raised on recruitment councils and appointment committees involved in the approval of these cases. If these irregularities arise from documentation errors, criticisms say that those responsible must be held responsible.
News Similar problems have previously pointed out a separate seniority list of 500 assistant police superintendents (DSP), revealing age differences, appointment dates and presumed uncontrollable promotions.
Many of these people are now in powerful positions, benefiting from wages, government vehicles and other advantages – despite a questionable eligibility at the time of their appointment.
